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EarthWatts - Antec power supplies
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:35 am
by besonen
"EarthWatts, the most environmentally friendly Power Supply yet."
http://www.antec.com/us/pro_p_EarthWatts.html
looks like stuff (active pfc and high efficiency) other folks (pcpowercooling.com) have been offering for a while.
when a company introduces a product that they've never sold before (and it's something that's been available from their competitors for some time) and markets it with a message that implies they are offering something new in their industry, i usually find myself wondering about said company's integrity.
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:55 am
by jaganath
From the conclusion to the SPCR review of the Earthwatts:
Still, we're not really sold on the "Green" aspects of the Earth Watts. High efficiency, active PFC, and the required RoHS compliance all make good selling points for the Green conscious, but these features are not unique to the Earth Watts — all of these are hallmarks of good quality power supplies, "Green" or not. And how much impact does the extra efficiency have, anyway? We're all for efficiency and being environmental friendliness, but we find it hard to believe that the energy saved by the extra efficiency is all that great, especially at the 40~60W level that a well-designed system should idle at. The 6~8W difference between 60% and 70% efficiency at this level just doesn't seem like much. It's certainly not enough to justify buying a replacement power supply if the environment has to bear the cost of putting the old power supply in a landfill.
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 11:14 am
by besonen
jaganath wrote:From the conclusion to the SPCR review of the Earthwatts:
thanks for the review reference. i didn't know that spcr had reviewed these power supplies.
it definitely smacks of opportunism (on the part of Antec) more than an increased awareness of sustainability issues.
Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 10:25 am
by padmewan
I would hardly want to criticize a company for making the effort. I definitely agree with the thrust of the article -- sending an old PSU to the landfill has much worse impact than marginal inefficiency.
"Green" marketing is overall a boon to the environmental movement, but the process of consumerizing the ethos also means that many of us will buy the image and feelings rather than reality. I am constantly checking my own desire to buy more "stuff" using "green" logic as my excuse. Most of the time, the most environmental thing to do is not to buy anything... That's the paradox of green consumerism
Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:46 pm
by besonen
padmewan wrote:"Green" marketing is overall a boon to the environmental movement
i guess i mostly agree with that, although i have my reservations.
when an idea is marketed and "packaged", often the essense of what the idea was before it was packaged is lost.
ideas can be marketed-to-death. buzzwords can lose all meaning. does this help to further the spread of a particular idea? i'm not so sure.
Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 5:58 am
by jaganath
The problem comes when presentation takes over from substance (for example a politician having a micro wind turbine on his house but not mandating increased fuel economy [and decreased emissions] for road vehicles; he appears "green" but actually he is not doing the things that would make the most impact to improve the environment). This power supply is not much more "green" than similar power supplies in its price bracket, so the marketers are just riding the popularity of green goods at the moment.